Mom Organizations Stand With Sybrina Fulton

Mothers famous and not so famous are calling out today to rally around Sybrina Fulton. Two groups have come forward to offer their hands.

MomsRising and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America declared their support for Sybrina this afternoon.

Statement by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of MomsRising.org, on justice for Trayvon Martin and last night’s Court ruling:

As mothers, we stand with Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mom, and with all the moms who’ve lost their children to gun violence. We stand for advancing gun safety policies and for eliminating dangerous gun laws, like the “stand your ground” law in Florida that contributed to Trayvon Martin’s untimely death at age seventeen.

MomsRising has long stood for gun violence prevention as well as for fair treatment and equality for all families in our country. We support the NAACP’s request for the Department of Justice to file civil charges against George Zimmerman. Too many of us could be Trayvon Martin’s mom–and one child killed is too many. It’s time to move gun safety and anti-racial profiling policies and laws forward, as well as to work for a criminal justice system where everyone is treated fairly.”

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense were even clearer on what they feel is the problem is and has evolved into.

Here is what they had to say:

Today, we are all Trayvon Martin’s mother. Trayvon, a 17-year-old victim of gun violence, was sadly one of the children and teens shot and killed every 3 hours and 15 minutes in America. Gun violence is a public health crisis of epidemic proportions in our country and, unchecked by Congress and many state legislatures, continues to spiral out of control. The lack of regulation of guns in America is a grave danger to all of our children.

The shooting death of Trayvon underscores the growing danger of increasingly lenient gun policies across the United States. Stand Your Ground laws, which give everyday citizens more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives to our soldiers in war zones, endanger our children, families and communities. These laws grow even more dangerous when coupled with some states’ permissive concealed carry policies that empower untrained, average citizens to carry a gun, and turn everyday conflicts into deadly tragedies.

A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime. In fact, there is a clear increase in homicides in those states, resulting in up to 700 more shooting deaths nationwide each year. Stand Your Ground laws also disproportionately affect communities of color. According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.

It is time for the 80 million mothers of America to stand our ground and demand new, common-sense gun laws and policies that will protect our children and honor the tragic shooting deaths of youths like Trayvon Martin. Collectively, we can use our votes and our voices to change policies and laws that will help keep American children out of the line of fire.

Much like Mothers Against Drunk Driving was created to change laws regarding drunk driving, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (www.momsdemandaction.org or @momsdemand) was created to build support for common-sense gun reforms. The nonpartisan grassroots movement of American mothers is demanding new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our children and families. In nearly 7 months the organization has garnered more than 100,000 members with nearly 100 local chapters in 40 states across the country.